Preparation of Aligned Carbon Nanotube Films Using the Langmuir-Blodgett Technique

Keywords:
carbon nanotube, Langmuir-Blodgett technique, alignment

Abstract:
The use of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as key building blocks for carbon-based electronics has, in recent years, been demonstrated for a variety of applications such as field-effect transistors, field-emission materials and sensors. Many of these applications require the integration of SWNTs into ordered macroscopic structures in a controlled way. Despite of extensive efforts, however, it is still a challenge to fabricate large scale, highly organized SWNTs onto solid substrates. Here we describe a reliable method for generating aligned, patterned SWNT structures over large areas using the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique. We synthesized thiophenol-modified SWNTs (SWNT-SHs) through the conventional method based on amidation of oxidized SWNTs. The resulting SWNT-SHs were found to be soluble in organic solvents including chloroform, which allowed the nanotubes to form a stable monolayer at the water/air interface. We found that the compression of SWNT-SHs on a LB trough leaded to a uniform SWNT-SH monolayer, where SWNT-SHs were aligned parallel to the trough barrier. Figure shows a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of an aligned SWNT-SH monolayer horizontally transferred onto a silicon wafer. In addition, we have achieved the formation of well-defined, patterned SWNT-SH arrays using both of microcontact printing and the LB technique.

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Nanotech 2006 Conference Program Abstract